Out of This World
by Moonlight Shadow4
Summary: AU.Inu.Kag. One unwitting girl, blessed and cursed with unexplainable powers. One lost boy, seeking to protect the power that could return his life to him and grant him sweet revenge. Evil lurks in the nightshadows, but Hope can be found in the stars.
1. Prologue: Part I

**Disclaimer:** Still don't own Inuyasha. Really I don't.

**A/N: **Yeah, different formatting look but I figured I'll try a different look for a different concept. I'm trying a slightly different (I keep using that word...) technique than usual so, we'll see how it goes.

**Dedication:** To Jazz the Wolf Demon for being the first person to encourage me to go with my idea on this. Here's hoping I make you proud.

_Note: _This story was originally going to debut after _On a Leash _was finished, but I changed my mind. Don't hurt me please.

* * *

**Prologue**

_**Part I**_

* * *

With a moan, flashes of scenery intermittent with splashes of black appeared before his gradually easing-open eyes. None of the images evoked any kind of sentiment in his brain. 

"Do you think he's awake yet?"

Packed dirt scraped against a tender cheek, leaving a raw, stinging feeling there. Faint sighs of dust grimed his face.

"I dunno—who the hell cares anyway?"

A rock nicked his temple. The black clouding his vision was not as bad as before, but the desolate brown still warbled in and out of focus.

"I'm not saying I care or anything, it's just...what if the kid wakes up? He could put up a struggle, ya know."

The darkness was subsiding into small bursts. A pair of short, heavy boots stamped at even intervals before his nose. More dust assaulted his olfactory, causing his aching head to slow its quest of lucidness.

"Then we whack him like before. Will you stop worrying?"

His mind's quarry was finally reached while the dark bursts in his vision faded into the occasional pop. The joints of his arms burned with a searing pain, most prevalently in his shoulders, which were strained by their unnatural placement from being dragged by the thick binds clamped on his wrists.

"I'm not worried, Brother, but this little wretch is the favorite son of Inutaisho, so, hanyou or not, very powerful youkai blood is in his veins."

The boy let out another forced, yet soft, groan into the intransigent clay road. Heat barraged his back without mercy. Gingerly, he lifted his abraded visage, eyes focusing on the wide girth of the man to his left.

"Hmph. Manten, you talk as if the noble Inutaisho was still alive."

A cringe crossed his features at the quietly scathing remark while a moronic chortle followed after. _Papa..._

"So, he truly has fallen? How delightful!"

He rolled onto his back, now feeling the still-oozing slashes in his left shoulder—most probably from sharp rocks he was dragged over while torpid. His jaded legs stretched languidly in small bouts to and fro, coaxing nimbleness back into them.

"Heh. All of 'em. Apparently Naraku used his sneakiness for something useful and surrounded Inutaisho. The human courtesan Izayoi was easily disposed of—apparently her death was what left him open. The eldest son was killed while on his convoy back to Korata."

The clink of the chains attached to his metal cuffs was somewhat comforting white noise. Papa was dead? Mama was dead? Even his half-brother Sesshoumaru was dead? He shifted his gaze from the wide man—no, youkai, his nose told him—and went to the sky. Tears wet his slotted eyes while the light of the twin suns harassed his lenses.

"How was that accomplished?"

He squinted more, lacing his eyelashes together, repelling both sunlight and dust. A small rivulet of hot blood had trickled from the fresh scratch on his temple, causing some strands of hair to stick there.

"I have to agree that blowing Sesshoumaru's ship to smithereens was an ingenious plan. There was no way to defeat that expressionless bastard up close—there was nothing to distract him. His only weakness was his mortality."

He shut his eyes. Tears snaked through the dirt on his face and the heat dried the moisture quickly; it made his chaffed cheek burn.

"And now Naraku is throwing this boy to the overseers of Drathna 4, Hiten?"

A dog ear atop his head twitched towards the thinner brother; the name 'Drathna 4' sounded somewhat familiar.

"Heh. Maybe he thinks that the hard labor is going to make a real youkai out of him."

Hard labor? Where were they taking him?

"Ha, Brother Hiten! He may be a descendant of noble blood, but I don't think even that will ever change the fact that he's a hanyou, only a few years weaned."

Fatigue was leaving his legs and the hanyou gingerly flexed his wrists. There was slight room, but not enough to break free.

"True enough, Manten—I bet he was just at the right age to start training, too. Once we get him to that camp filled with those disgusting humans, this brat'll wish that Naraku had killed him."

Blinking his eyes open, he scrutinized his left arm. His entire sleeve, which had once been a soft off-white, was now heavily marred with brownish blots. His own dried blood.

"At least he will be working with creatures that are the same status. Maybe if he's lucky they'll move him from the mines and make him an overseer when he's older."

Overseer... Wait. He knew where they were taking him...

His body trembled. _They're taking me to a slave colony!_ He staggered quickly to his boot-clad feet, his chains chiming together and the brothers turned to look back at him. He yanked his manacles as he fumbled rearward. "No! Let me go!"

The thinner, more humanoid youkai, Hiten, snorted with annoyance as the links began to accelerate from his lax grasp. He allowed the hanyou child to tear away before abruptly clamping his hand on the chain lead and giving a sharp jerk. He smirked as the boy subsequently pitched forward onto the dirt road. "Well, well, Inuyasha," he said as the boy shakily raised his face from the ground, a dribble of blood coming from his nose and upper lip, "it's nice to see you conscious."

"Let me go!" Inuyasha demanded again, getting to his feet, only to be wrenched towards his captor again as he fell to his knees. "Let me go..."

"Hm." Hiten's smirk lifted into a half-smile that would have been handsome had it not been stopped from reaching his eyes by the malevolence already taking residence there. "I don't think so, hanyou. You're worth quite a bit to my brother and me."

The corpulent, semi-reptilian brother, Manten, laughed stupidly again. "Indeed you are. Too bad Naraku said you had to be completely intact when we arrived to the compound—your hair would have made a very nice wig, especially on a scorching day like this," he said, motioning to his naked pate, which was sporting a violent red sunburn.

Hiten tugged Inuyasha towards him again when the boy rose once more. "Well now that you're awake you can move your body of your own accord instead of making me drag you, lazy shit. So, start walkin'."

Inuyasha complied at another brusque jerk and drifted behind Hiten and Manten, taking shade in the pair's long shadows.

* * *

The twin suns loomed high, like two orbs of fire burning at the loftiest point North. He glanced charily from side to side, seeing only an eternity of sand, dust, and rock formations all painted with hues of reddish-brown. A few carrion crow youkai flapped in lethargic circles in the surprisingly clear blue sky. Obviously some carcass was nearby and Inuyasha had the unfortunate experience of witnessing the lesser youkai feast upon the rotting flesh; he emptied his stomach contents to the side while the brothers laughed—they had forced him to continue walking at their unhurried pace, giving him plenty of time to commit the incident to memory and smell the sordid odor for the next hour with his sensitive nose. 

An occasional wind would cut over the trio of travelers. With their long, leather coats and slightly weathered bodies, it didn't seem to bother the brothers at all, yet it lashed at the diminutive half-youkai's tender skin. As soon as the desert current would die away, the dry air would become weightier and the suns seemingly more blistering than before.

The time passed languorously, taunting him with the notion that just over the next hillcrest there would some kind of establishment—this camp—where he could finally stop moving just for a minute, yet he was always disappointed when all he found was more solemn desert spread before him.

One sun glowed pale ocher while the larger one burned vibrant crimson, the spheres continuing to retreat west. Rivulets of sweat ran down Inuyasha's face, carrying both blood and filth to the angles of his features before thick drops plummeted to the parched terrain. He waggled his head—he suddenly felt very dizzy and his throat was dry. When he swallowed, all he could taste was the lingering flavor of his own vomit. "C-can I have some water...please...?" he rasped quietly, pulling at his shackles.

"You'll live, princeling," snorted Hiten. "We'll be there in a couple hours."

Inuyasha's eyes glanced at Manten, who was pouring generous amounts of the desired liquid down his large gullet before looking back to Hiten when they stopped. "B-but...please, I'm—"

"Didn't your mother teach you anything?" rounded Manten, bringing his colossal head close to Inuyasha. He sprayed water on the hanyou's face. A smirk crossed his gaping mouth as the boy snorted and wiped at his eyes with the inside of his arms. "Saying 'please' won't get you anything. Words like that are for the weak and the dumb—like _hanyous._"

"I'm not dumb..." Inuyasha quietly protested. "But you're ugly and dumb, baldy."

"Brat!" Manten shouted, rearing back a massive arm and swept it across the young half-youkai's face.

Inuyasha's head snapped to the side from the heavy blow. He clenched his teeth as throbbing pain overtook the right side of his face. Fresh tears collected at his interwoven lashes as he scrunched his eyes into slits. A small whimper escaped his throat.

Manten glared down at Inuyasha, looming his broad form over the trembling child as his brother spoke. "Don't be too hard on him, Manten." Hiten tilted his head slightly to half-smirk at his bulky companion. "We're supposed to get him there safe enough; otherwise he won't be able to work."

Giving one last smoldering stare, he straightened up. "Yes, older brother. We'll get 'im there...safe and sound," he hissed at Inuyasha as he turned around again.

Bowing his tender head, Inuyasha submitted to Hiten's now rather familiar tug on his manacles and continued his trek.

* * *

The suns were loitering at a forty-five degree angle. The wind was still scathing whenever it arose, which was thankfully infrequent, and it carried the harsh heat on its eddies. Effectively wind-burned, dehydrated, and weary, Inuyasha revived a little when his juvenile curiosity was piqued upon spotting a fragile cluster of pink desert flowers close to the roadside. Not far off were some spidery, bronze-green shrubs. 

Inuyasha blinked languidly, trying to wet his eyes. No matter how feeble or unattractive it was, there was vegetation, and the longer they walked, the more abundant it was. The wheels in his head started turning. "We must be near some water. Are we near a town...?"

Hiten chuckled. "Pretty smart, kid. Yeah, there's something like a town up ahead..." They turned around the bend of a large cliff face to find themselves looking down at a valley filled with hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of humans with youkai overseers shouting at them and beating them; Inuyasha swallowed a gasp and Hiten smirked. "Welcome home, Inuyasha. This is your new home—the slave colony of Drathna 4."

Manten leered back at him. "But you can call it Hell."

Inuyasha swallowed again before being jerked forward. The closer they came to this slave colony, the stronger the scents of blood, sweat, filth, and other such unpleasant things became, making him feel sick and the last thing he wanted to do was to vomit in front of those two again. So instead he kept his mouth shut tightly in a grimace.

He was lead past the slaves, and he bowed his head when he caught some of them whispering amongst themselves, pointing at him with both curiosity and loathing. The slave drivers were no better, shouting various names at him—some more vulgar than others.

The sound of a whip cracking accented each cry or moan of the slaves.

He watched the main path of the derelict camp until it was finally softly blanketed by shadow, to which he finally looked up. While the shade was greedily welcomed, Inuyasha had a bad feeling about this slight respite and licked his chapped lips anxiously.

"Is thissss him?" asked a dark, echoing voice.

Peering between his two captors, Inuyasha spotted a tall lizard youkai. He bowed his thick head, which was crowned with small, yellow horns.

"Yeah," Hiten said, "this is the kid. You remember what Naraku said."

"Yesss..." he hissed, inspecting Inuyasha with his fluorescent blue eyes.

"Be sure you don't forget or that bastard will have all our asses, Kisu." Hiten glanced briefly back to the hanyou before turning to Kisu again. "I promised him water, and you know how I hate to break a promise."

"Yess...I know... Dehydrated hanyou meansss a worthlessss body..." Kisu turned his head shouting. "Boy! Bring me a pitcher of water..."

There were a few moments of just Hiten and Kisu's soft undertones; Inuyasha tried to not focus on any of the noise. It helped to try and block out the sound of labor going on outside. The pattering feet warranted Inuyasha's attention as a dark haired human boy, not much older than he, entered the earthen fore-chamber with a large metal pitcher in his hands.

Kisu looked to the young human. "Very good...now give the hanyou a sip like a good boy, Miroku."

Miroku gazed charily at the hanyou for moment before approaching him. He stood abreast to Inuyasha and, keeping his eyes on him, reached a hand in and extracted a dipper filled with water. "Here." He held it to Inuyasha's mouth and he drank covetously. The water was cool enough and it remedied his throat.

"Thank you," he whispered. Miroku's eyes grew in surprise before Kisu called him to his side again.

"Miroku..." Kisu hissed again when the boy scuttled over, still peering at Inuyasha with wide blue-violet eyes, "I want you to take the hanyou pup to your and Sango's room. He will stay with you."

Miroku nodded, rebalancing the water jug. "Yes, Master Kisu."

"Good boy," he purred.

"So, they call you 'Master' now, Kisu?" Hiten snorted, flipping a key into his palm from the bracelet of them around his wrist. He tugged Inuyasha forward and slipped the key into the hole. As the mechanisms unlocked with a 'click' and the manacles fell away, he muttered, "Disgusting."

Inuyasha briefly got to look at the wide bands of pink skin on his wrists when a kick from behind sent him stumbling forward. He glanced back to see Manten leering down at him. Looking past the corpulent youkai, he tried to gauge his distance between his captors and the door.

"Don't even think of escaping," muttered Hiten. "We'll only catch you and beat you when we do."

Inuyasha whirled to face the front again. "I-I wasn't..." he whispered.

"Come on," prompted Miroku, going ahead of him, "I'll take you to our quarters."

With no choice but to go forward, he begrudgingly trudged after the human—which involved walking past Kisu, who hissed at him as he passed, "And stay in there, you little cretin. At least for now."

Inuyasha was lead through a tunnel worn straight into the desert earth. Shafts of light from crudely cut windows filtered in through the dust, making warm patches on the ground. They remained above sea level, even though the pair moved down a slanted path a few times; even so, when Miroku finally drew to a halt, the chamber was far cooler than any other place in the entire complex.

"This is our room," Miroku stated simply before taking Inuyasha in.

Inuyasha glanced around his new home. Even to his small eyes, the chamber wasn't large. A single circular window offered any light to the otherwise darkened space. There were two battered blankets on the dirt floor—presumably one for Miroku and one for this Sango person Kisu had mentioned.

"What's your name?"

"Huh?" Inuyasha turned to look at the human boy. "My name? It's Inuyasha. You're Miroku, right?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Sango should be back soon. She and I fetch water most of the time, instead of mining."

"Mining? What're you mining for?"

Miroku peered curiously at him. "For Zier crystals. You know—the stuff that powers ships."

"Oh." Inuyasha's ears twitched at the sound of a pair of pattering feet running toward them.

"Miroku!" a young girl's voice cried. "Miroku!" A girl with dark brown hair scampered into the room, seemingly rather winded; she looked younger than both he and Miroku.

"What's wrong, Sango?"

"Master Kisu wants us to work in the mines today with the hanyou boy." Her eyes flickered to Inuyasha. "Working in the mines are hard, especially when you hafta start in mining holes."

"Mining holes?" Inuyasha echoed back.

Sango nodded, while Miroku elaborated. "You have to dig straight down with the suns' light on your back."

"Oh... How long do we have to do that?"

Sango's magenta-flecked-brown eyes grew in wonder as she whispered, "All day."

* * *

By the end of the first day, Inuyasha's already abused body was aching in places that he never could have fathomed to ache. He trembled, pulling up the spare blanket that had been left in the chamber – as hot as the Drathna desert was during the day, it matched in coolness at night. 

Miroku and Sango had gone off to fetch dinner for them from Kisu. It was some thin kind of gruel his nose had told him when they first re-entered the slave quarters again, weary and famished to the point of nausea.

Inuyasha leaned his back against the earthen wall of their chamber gingerly, wincing as pain dully spread over his muscles. He drew his knees up to his chest and rested his forehead against them. For a moment or two, he stared at the rough fibers of the dirt colored blanket before closing his eyes._ Am I gonna stay here forever...?_

Sleep beckoned – he relaxed his body and the fatigue began to overtake his small form when the shuffling of Miroku's footsteps reached his ears. Inuyasha lifted his head as the other boy approached him with two bowls of food.

"This one's yours." Miroku offered the right bowl to him, and Inuyasha accepted it with a tired nod. "So the slave traders got you, huh?"

Inuyasha glanced up from his gruel to his companion – he had just asked that question so simply, without even a second thought or slight hesitation; it took Inuyasha aback slightly. "Yeah..." he murmured.

Miroku nodded once before scooping some gruel in the groove of the rock he was using as a spoon. "Hiten and Manten are two of the meanest slave traders. You must be important if they came only with you. Normally they have a whole train with them," he commented conversationally.

Inuyasha focused his eyes on his bowl, not wishing to confirm or deny the boy's assumption. "Did they get you, too, Miroku?"

"Nope." He swallowed another mouthful of gruel. "I was born here. Same with Sango."

"Oh..."

They lapsed into silence; Inuyasha eventually ate his food, as unsavory as it was, because his body begged for some sustenance. Sango eventually came in, bowl in one hand and a water jug clutched against her chest with the other. She set the jug carefully to the ground before plopping on the floor across from the boys.

Inuyasha peered at her with passing curiosity, his mind too muzzy to take much interest as to why she was staring at him so intently.

Sango quickly ate her portion and got to her feet. She toddled over to the water jug and pulled a fairly clean rag from her pocket. Folding it into a thick square, she dipped it into the water and walked over to Inuyasha. She stopped in front of him before handing him the rag. "Here...Inuyasha," she said softly, testing out his name. He took it, looking quizzically at her. "It's for you face. You have a lot of blood and dirt on it."

The hanyou inadvertently sniffed. A flood of metal and earth scents assaulted his nose. "Thanks, Sango." He grimaced slightly, and Sango gave a small grin of her own. Gently, Inuyasha began to wash the grime away with the surprisingly soft cloth. He hissed in pain whenever he hit a tender spot – like when the rag passed over his raw cheek, tears sprang to his eyes.

One of the youkai overseers stopped by the entryway. Inuyasha looked up from his washing and to the onlooker with an inquisitive gaze. His crimson eyes looked apathetically at the hanyou child before tapping something on the outside wall. A barrier wavered to a transparent jade sheen over the opening; satisfied, the overseer padded down the hall – no doubt to the next room to do the same.

Inuyasha finished cleaning up, not really listening to Sango and Miroku's conversation. He polished off his own gruel and set the bowl to the side with the soiled cloth in it. He glanced once to the pair and shuffled over to a corner of the chamber, blanket gathered in his arms.

His dark corner was colder than the rest of the room, but suddenly, Inuyasha found he did not mind. The shadow-cast sky was crystalline with the glistening sweep of stars. He blinked his gold eyes languidly as the pale moonlight listlessly flowed through the window.

Returning to sit like he was before – back to the wall and knees furled to his chest – Inuyasha realized that somewhere in that mess of stars and planets was his home.

But how far away...? He did not know.

Bowing his head to his knees, he drifted off into a dreamless sleep, with only fragments his fragile memories coloring his slumber.

* * *

Day and night were not balanced evenly on Drathna 4 – the desert heat reigned longer than the frigid night. Days stretched on in ongoing torture for the slaves, and the night was a transitory repose. The overseers found it to be a wonderful thing; longer hours 'til dusk meant more Zier crystals could be mined, and they, of course, took full advantage of the opportunity. 

After a week of hard labor in the mining holes, Inuyasha's body, not used to the strenuous toil, felt far sorer than he ever remembered it feeling in his short life.

The twin suns flickered behind the horizon while a thin stripe of velvety dark blue started on the opposite side of the barren land. Shadows were faintly cast off of the desert plants by the finally-fading light; in its dusty loneliness, the desert looked to go on forever.

The sounding of a horn signaled the end of the day. The slaves trudged in – the more able-bodied ones, the slaves more used to the workload, walked into the quarters with an easier, though no less tired, gait. Inuyasha went into the compound with Miroku and Sango.

As they passed by Kisu, his hand shot out and gripped Inuyasha's shoulder. "You..." he hissed, tongue flitting out of his mouth slightly as Inuyasha shrunk back, "have a...vissssssssitor." Kisu's scaly hand roughly clutched the fabric of Inuyasha's grubby shirt as he dragged the hanyou towards another room in the compound.

Inuyasha winced as Kisu's sharp talons jostled against his skin as he stumbled along. He was thrown forward and he landed face first in the packed dirt. Sitting up on his knees, he shook the dirt from his hair and face. Opening his eyes – which had closed of their own accord during his fall – Inuyasha waited for them to adjust to the darkness around him.

His dog ears swiveled at the sound of even, unhurried footfalls approaching him. A short chuckle drifted into the air, lingering eerily.

When his sight finally adjusted to the darkness of the room, Inuyasha gasped at the looming figure that stood only a few strides away. He scuttled backwards with wide eyes. His body shook from overexertion and the fear that this solitary figure evoked in him.

Inuyasha took in a shuddering breath; all the shards of his memory came together to form a picture of this man, this youkai. _A hanyou..._ His eyelids quickly shut while his diminutive hands fisted at his sides. _No...go away..._ his mind cried. _Just go away..._

The hanyou stepped closer. "Heh. Scared of me, Inuyasha...?" he drawled. He paused, hearing only the shaking breath of the child. "You're a smarter boy than your brother. He didn't submit to fear – but you..."

Sesshoumaru would have chastised him for showing fright to the enemy as he was right now. "It's a disgrace to our family name," he would have said. "Is that the kind of conduct Father would want us to have in our lives, Inuyasha?"

He swallowed; the terror still wracked his body and his mind, yet, even so, Inuyasha slowly eased his eyes open again. His gold eyes locked on the other hanyou's red ones. "What do you want, Naraku?"

* * *

**A/N:** As you can tell, the stylistics uses a darker tone than that of _On a Leash._ This is more like my book series _Spellbinder_. Part II will be up soon. 


	2. Prologue: Part II

**A/N: **Sorry for taking so long. I know I've said I was going to update _On a Leash_, but I've been getting quite a few rather irritating reviews, that I'm going to hold off a bit longer. Plus, it's been very difficult for me to find time to write anything at all. If you're wondering about Inuyasha's outfit, it looks similar to a Jedi's ensemble (think Episode 1, the first Skywalker or Obi Wan).

**Dedication: **This second part originally wasn't going to have a dedication, but, I dedicate this to my editor, Notoes, and her mother, who passed away recently.

* * *

**Prologue**

**_Part II_**

* * *

Naraku chuckled slightly at the young hanyou's question. "What do I want, Inuyasha...?" 

Inuyasha's small fangs bit into the inside of his bottom lip as he stood up, quivering. He forced himself to continue to look the other half-youkai in the eyes, despite all the haze of heart-pounding trauma that colored his more recent memories – his thoughts now – and made him want to bolt away and hide, not only from Naraku but from the visions themselves. Visions that he witnessed again and again in vivid nightmares. Visions that he could hear. _I'm not dreaming now..._

Visions that he knew for certain now were real.

Naraku said in that oily voice of his again, "What do I want, Inuyasha? It's not a difficult request." The obscurity of the chamber made whatever he was wearing blend eerily into the shadows. His ruby eyes seemed to illuminate his long, pale face. They flickered once as a quiet half-smirk crept over his thin lips as one of his hands reached around to his side. From his hip, the very dull winking of metal danced into Inuyasha's eyes.

"Tetsusaiga?" he whispered in wonder.

"Yes," Naraku seemed to purr in response.

The young hanyou's gaze looked curiously at the long curve of the battered blade before moving restlessly to Naraku's eyes again. "Why do you have Tetsusaiga?"

"So you know what this..." he licked his lips with feigned pensiveness, "heirloom is then."

With a nod, Inuyasha watched as Naraku held the blade perfectly level in his right hand. "It's the sword wielded by the ruler of Vaokea..." He trailed off; the horrific realization that Hiten and Manten's words were true came like a sound strike to the face. He shook his head wildly while Naraku's thin lips curled into a simper.

"What's the matter, Inuyasha? Aren't you going to greet your new ruler now?" He chuckled again. Towering over the child, he whispered, "Your new father...?"

Inuyasha made harried whimpers while continuing to shake his head, platinum hair waving violently from side-to-side. The sudden force of a hand seizing the front of his dirtied shirt made all the breath in his lungs rush out of him when he was abruptly lifted up. The darkness of the room seemed to spin as his head snapped backwards. Through the shadows, Inuyasha could see the older hanyou's red eyes narrow menacingly – the sadistically teasing glint had left without a trace.

"Now then, Inuyasha." Naraku's hand curled tighter into the soiled cloth, twisting the neck of the shirt closer to Inuyasha's throat. His ember-like eyes burned hotly into the wide golden ones of the frightened boy. "How do I use it?"

Inuyasha choked out in response, "Use what?"

Naraku gripped the cloth tighter. "Don't play stupid with me," he snarled in an undertone. He drew Tetsusaiga up to Inuyasha's cheek, pressing the tip into the sunburned flesh there. "How do I use this sword?"

Gasping for air, the young hanyou responded, "I...I don't know..."

"Liar!" Naraku shouted, sharply shaking Inuyasha once. "Tell me how to use it, damn it. You know as well as I do that this sword is supposed to react to the new leader...how?"

Inuyasha clawed at Naraku's hand. "I don't know!" His juvenile talons left thin ribbons of blood on Naraku's knuckles as he desperately stripped the skin away. Even so, Naraku refused to relinquish his grasp on him. The hanyou boy writhed. "I don't know how to use it! I don't know! Leave me alone – I don't know – why won't you go away? – I don't know!" Tears welled up in his eyes while his face grew slightly insensate.

"Inuyasha..." hissed the older hanyou coyly, "if you tell me how to use it, I'll take you away from here, from this wretched slave colony." His grip released fractionally – more oxygen circulated to Inuyasha's face and his lungs drew it in over his numbed lips covetously. "I could raise you like my very own son, Inuyasha. You could live in the palace again, and play with your toys and have whatever you want, so long as you tell me how to get this sword to work." Naraku wet his lips slowly, calculatingly – almost patiently. "I'll ask you again – how do I get this sword to react to its new leader?"

Inuyasha swallowed. Trembling, he whispered, "...I don't know..."

With a grunt of annoyance, Naraku hurled Inuyasha across the chamber. The boy's back soundly connected with the earthen wall. "Worthless."

Stunned, Inuyasha dropped from the wall, falling through the dust-clouded air and landing heavily on his face and stomach. Groaning, he attempted to open his eyes.

Even footfalls reached his ears as Naraku stalked towards him. "At least I can pursue the treasure from Teirlon without it."

Inuyasha tried to push himself up, but his arms were too weak and he collapsed onto the floor again – body pushed far beyond its normal exhaustion point. Nerves quavered as Naraku's aura began to slowly tendril around the fringes of his own – torturously bringing the feeling of suffocating numbness – while his body continued to lay quiescent on the dirt floor.

"Inuyasha..."

The young hanyou groaned. The deliberate crushing of dirt on the earthen floor rang in his ears. He clenched his eyes shut, not wanting to see how close Naraku was. The steps grew more menacing.

His heart pounded.

Air displaced around him – cooling by some movement; he was going to be struck.

His body tensed in anticipation...

"No! Get away from him!"

Inuyasha's eyes whipped open at the sound of Miroku's voice. The human boy had thrown himself against Naraku's side.

Naraku stumbled slightly as a dark fog burst from him.

Inuyasha covered his nose with a sleeve of his shirt and dove to the side while Miroku made a cry of pain and tumbled backwards. The young hanyou moved the make-shift mask from his face, wiping his nose with a palm. He blinked in wonder as Miroku got to his feet, the sleeve of his shirt singed as if fire had gotten to it.

Righting himself, Naraku looked impassively to Miroku. "So, boy, you think you are above me?" He smirked. "What a self-righteous little fool." Naraku tucked a hand into the front of the long black cloak he wore thoughtfully, – the cloak Inuyasha recognized as his father's, the cloak of the Vaokea ruler – bowing his head for a moment before whipping his head around to face Miroku.

His red eyes glowed an odious crimson. His hand swept out, a single piece of parchment between his first and middle fingers. With a sharp flick of his wrist, the paper whistled through the air towards the obstinate human boy.

Inuyasha's eyes widened in horror as an awful shriek burst from Miroku's mouth. He drew his breaths in shakily, unable to tear his eyes away from the disturbing sight.

Miroku's right hand had been pierced all the way through, leaving a bloody hole in the center of his palm. The paper was nowhere to be found. In disbelief, Miroku grasped his wrist, staring raptly at the endless darkness in his hand. Streams of blood slid down his arm, leaving stains of red down his sleeve that collected at his elbow.

_He must have tried to shield his face with his hands..._ Inuyasha thought. He felt the bile rise to his throat, but still he watched the grotesque scene. The hole was the size of Miroku's thumb, and Inuyasha was a little unnerved by its darkness.

As he continued to watch, something like an inward-sucking wind drew the trails of blood into the puncture where they disappeared, leaving only faint traces on his skin that blood had ever been there to begin with.

"What...? What is this...?" whispered Miroku, shifting his gaze marginally from his hand to Naraku.

Naraku smirked again, gaze reflecting macabre delight. "It's the Draíocht Coir Teicníocht's equivalent to a wormhole - a _Kazaana_."

"A-a w-worm hole...?" Miroku licked his lips, blank-faced.

Turning, Naraku began to pace away. "If you kill me, that abomination in your hand will cease to be. Then you will truly be above me. But if you don't," he stopped, looking towards the human boy with indulgent contempt, "then it will continue to widen every year until you suffer the fate of being sucked in by your own hand."

Miroku's breath faltered in his throat. Tears that had lingered in his eyes began to spill over of their own accord.

"Hmph." Passing his gaze from Miroku to Inuyasha, he said with a smirk, "Well, if you aren't going to tell me how to use this," he motioned to Tetsusaiga, which was still clasped in his hand, "or if you really don't know, you're really of no use to me." He began towards the doorway. "I'll leave you for Kisu. He can do with you what he will. Have a nice life, Inuyasha."

Inuyasha simply sat watching as Naraku paced out of the chamber and Sango slipped in passed him.

"Miroku!" she cried running over to him and taking his hand, cradling it to her tearstained cheek. "Miroku, are you okay?"

Miroku nodded slightly – obviously woozy. "I'll be okay..."

Sango looked at him before turning to glare at Inuyasha. "This is all _your _fault!" she shouted.

"What...?" he murmured. "But I didn't..."

"Shut up! Look what you made him do to Miroku!" Sango's small body shook. "You're terrible, I hate you!"

Inuyasha winced at her words. _But...I didn't mean for it to happen..._

Sango sucked in another deep breath, prepared to yell again, when Miroku's hand landed on her shoulder. "Sango," he said, pained, "let's go back to the chamber. I did it on my own...don't blame Inuyasha... It's my fault..."

* * *

That night, Inuyasha sat apart from Miroku and Sango – much like he had the first night had come here, nearly a week ago. Inuyasha stared at the sky, one ear guiltily trained on them. Sango's voice was low as she talked to Miroku, helping him clean up his arm. Judging from what they were saying, the hole continued to suck up particles of dirt with its wind. 

"Don't try and put your finger in it, Sango," Inuyasha heard Miroku say, causing him to glance from the crude window to the pair. "It might suck it in or something... I dunno how strong it is, either."

Sango nodded. "Okay. Then what do we do with it?"

"Um..." The human boy ran his left thumb over the back of the knuckles of his cursed hand. "We should probably cover it or something... Ya know, like a glove or something."

"But we don't have any thing for gloves here. No one wears gloves here – it's too hot."

"Um..." The humans looked to Inuyasha as he stood to his feet, one hand on the sleeve of his shirt. "We could always make one," he said softly, eyes downcast.

Sango glared heatedly while Miroku asked, "With what?"

Inuyasha was quiet for a moment before curling his claws into the material and jerking it away, hearing a sound rip as it pulled from the seams. He shrugged the sleeve off before looking from it to his shirt. He then used his other hand to do the same to his other sleeve so it was even.

Washing both pieces of fabric in their basin of water – which they changed daily –, Inuyasha rung them out before taking them both and sitting shyly in front of Miroku and Sango. He quietly used his claws to cut down the tube of cloth to make it a flat piece. Then, he made a fair-sized hole in the center of it. "Can I see your hand?"

Miroku nodded and held out his right hand to Inuyasha.

Looking at it closer for the first time, Inuyasha saw that the chasm in the boy's hand truly did puncture all the way through; and instead of being able to see through to the other side, all he could see was an endless darkness and feel the coaxing wind. _I wasn't imagining everything I saw..._ Inuyasha thought, swallowing slightly.

Inuyasha slipped the hole he'd cut into the cloth over Miroku's middle finger before slitting it on either side of the finger, so the rest of his digits were free to move.

The damp cloth clung to Miroku's bare wrist – his sleeves had been rolled up for when Sango was cleaning. Inuyasha looked at it for a moment before tearing a strip from his other sleeve and tying it around Miroku's wrist, fixing the makeshift glove in place. "That should hold for a while... It's made out of silk from a worm youkai...it's pretty strong."

Then, wordlessly, Inuyasha rose to his feet again, and padded to his dark corner of the cell, leaving the scraps behind.

* * *

A few days passed, and Inuyasha was greeted each morning with contemptuous glares from not only Sango, but most of the humans in the compound. 

The young hanyou simply learned to bow his head and try to avoid whatever was lobbed at him or was placed in his way as he walked. Surprisingly though, the only person who was still kind to him was Miroku. It was a relief to Inuyasha considering he was still working in the mining holes with Sango as well as Miroku.

The work was becoming a tad easier, but it was still trying on Inuyasha's body. The twin suns' light beat down on his now-bare arms, warming them from their pale color to a red burn. Regardless, he and Miroku continued to tote the heavy buckets filled with Zier crystals to the large metal funnel in the middle of the ground, a good walk from their hole, to be processed by the people in the underground station. Sango usually fetched water and only ventured into the hole to collect the crystals and toss them into the buckets the boys would carry.

As Inuyasha and Miroku were returning from such a trip, they heard a girl's cry from their hole. They dashed to their station and peered down the chasm. At the bottom was Sango, tears silently streaming down her face.

"Sango!" Miroku called down, quickly dropping to his knees and leaning over the edge. "What happened?"

She sniffled once before pointing towards the dented metal water pail, its contents spilt over the floor of dirt and Zier crystals. "I didn't mean to fall, Miroku," she said apologetically.

He smiled reassuringly down at her. "It's all right. You didn't do it on purpose. Can you stand?"

Sango shook her head, touching a hand to her ankle. "I hurt it."

Miroku frowned, thinking. "There's no rope to pull her out with, and Sango's not strong enough to climb out all by herself..." he mumbled.

Inuyasha passed his gaze from his adversary to his friend. Without a second thought, he jumped down the hole and landed beside Sango. She promptly turned away from him, part of her pouting, but a greater portion afraid and in pain; he snorted slightly and stubbornly ignored her slight protest – two traits he had inherited from his father – as he picked her up and leapt back onto the higher ground. He set her gently down on her rump and then backed away a few paces.

Sango sat quietly, pawing at her ankle, but wincing whenever she did so.

Miroku knelt down beside her, inspecting her. "I don't think it's broken, but I think you bruised it... Doesn't look like you'll be able to carry anything today."

"I can do it," Inuyasha said softly. "It's not that hard to gather those crystals into the buckets. And I can get water from the pump, too."

The boys nodded in agreement, while Sango just watched, keeping sullen eyes on Inuyasha.

After giving the injured girl a ladleful of water, the boys continued mining while the heat of the day bore on them, occasionally stopping to haul Zier crystals off, or to get something to drink. When the water began to run low, Inuyasha would venture passed the other slaves to the head slave driver that dispensed the water – so one group wasn't receiving more than the others – and refill their small pail. It was during one of Inuyasha's late afternoon trips that, as he was approaching the mining hole, he heard a loud shout and the foreboding crack of a whip.

Curious, as most young boys his age are, Inuyasha ventured closer, and poked his head around the large boulder that sat close to his hole to survey the situation. There was an overseer.

The overseer stood tall and menacing. His garnet eyes were hard, and he had the black leather whip curled around his tan, muscular forearm. "Why the fuck aren't you doing your work, you lazy little bitch?" he spat, glaring at Sango.

The girl shifted in her spot in the cooling shadow of the boulder. "I...I-I hurt m-my ankle..."

"So?" he shouted. "Get the hell up – "

"I can't!"

"GET UP NOW!" He began to unfurl his whip, eyes flashing. "I'll beat you otherwise, now get up!"

Inuyasha dropped the water bucket and leapt in front of Sango. "Hey, leave her alone!"

The overseer kicked at Inuyasha, but the young hanyou darted out of the way. "Shut up, half-breed."

"You shut up – asshole," he shot back after some slight hesitation. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he could hear his mother scolding him for using such language. "She's hurt, can't you see that?"

Swooping down, faster than Inuyasha expected, the slave driver seized him by the front of his shirt. He drew the boy up to eyelevel. "Are you talking back to me?" he asked in a low whisper. "Is that it, eh? You're talking back to me?" He tossed Inuyasha unceremoniously to the ground. "So, what are you saying – you don't want me to hurt your little friend here?"

Inuyasha pushed himself up to all fours. "Yeah...it's not her fault." He wiped at his nose with his hand, propped up with the other. "You're not supposed to hit a girl..."

"Well then," Inuyasha could hear the sound of the slave driver's hand gripping the whip tighter, "someone has to be punished."

Inuyasha felt the blow forcing him to the ground before he heard it. It echoed off his back with a solid slap, leaving a streak of hot pain in its wake. His clothes had been torn. The familiar thudding of blood oozing out of his wounds began as another streak of pain was laid down on his back – again and again, with sharp claps, like thunder. When Inuyasha's mind went hazy, and he'd lost count of the whip-cracks, the overseer stopped.

All the slave driver said as he walked away was a disdainful, "Pfft," as he spat.

The world swam around in an array of dusty oranges and reds before Inuyasha's eyes but before he passed out, his gaze found Sango's wide-eyed one and he managed a small smile. Then he blacked out.

He awoke a few hours later to the darkness of the chamber, lying on his back on his blanket. Miroku and Sango sat to his right, watching him; they had been talking, but when his eyes opened, they stopped abruptly. The humans' gazes met his own, and they simply stared at each other. Slowly, Inuyasha sat up and was surprised to find his old shirt gone and his torso covered by bandages. He blinked in surprise, glancing from his bandages to the pair again.

Sango grimaced, her eyes soft, unlike all the times before. This time they looked...grateful. Silently, she held out a bowl to him. "Miroku and I...we...we saved you some soup...Inuyasha..."

Inuyasha stared at the bowl in her hands, dumbfounded. "Thanks...Sango."

Sango nodded once while Miroku helped Inuyasha steady himself against the wall.

Even though they all sat in silence as Inuyasha ate, and simply looked from each other to the stars they could see through their hole in the wall, there was an understanding. Young as they were, the three of them had come to realize that, in Drathna 4, there would be no one else to care for them but each other.

They were all they had.

* * *

Time passed. People changed. 

Not only did Miroku, Sango, and Inuyasha grow to be like a small family, but the human slaves of Drathna 4 had opened their hearts to the hanyou as well after he protected Sango when he was still a child. Now, Inuyasha, along with Sango and Miroku, had grown into his early adolescent years.

From being the slight hanyou-boy he was, Inuyasha had grown to be lean and rather tall, and his body had tanned so the heat did not bother him as much anymore – all of which could be attributed to the hard work he performed in the mining holes. He had become quite handsome, and some of the human girls liked to flirt with him whenever possible, though he never flirted back, which Miroku said was a shame. But, in the time that had gone by, the outward naiveté he had possessed as a child had withered away with each day in the desert.

The trio worked in the mining holes every day since the incident with the overseer but, they made the best of it and the work got easier.

Every few weeks or so, a transport ship from the Sixth Delta Alliance – the local trade merchants guild of this galaxy – would come to pick up the latest shipment of Zier crystals.

It was during the cooling season, when the suns weren't _nearly_ so hot, that Inuyasha spotted one such ship. It was a light gray color with a triangle with three lines crossing through it, two that passed through the bottom points and one that crossed directly through the middle. He'd always taken a bit of fascination with ships – after all, when he still lived in Korata with his family, there had been ships in and out of the docking bay almost around the clock.

Inuyasha watched the grunts file in and out, either bringing cargo in or going to retrieve it. He shifted the large box of Zier crystals on his back, so he could see where he was going; being the strongest slave, Inuyasha and a few other worthy candidates were ordered to stop their normal duties and help load the transport ship. So, he began walking towards the ship and slipped into line.

As he was making his way up the plank that lead into the cargo hold, he spotted a black haired man standing at the doorway. The man watched the grunts and slaves come and go with quiet silver-grey eyes, arms crossed loosely over his chest. He looked as human as every one of the slaves, but Inuyasha's nose told him that he was indeed a youkai. A wolf youkai.

_The pilot..._ Inuyasha thought as he proceeded further up the plank. _You can tell by the pilot insignia stitched on the left arm of his jacket. _Inuyasha studied the symbol closely – it was a blue circle with a white eternity symbol inside; below it was the Sixth Delta Alliance symbol in metallic red. _Weird though... What's a pilot doing right in the middle of all the action for?_

The pilot's eyes passed to Inuyasha's and widened slightly.

Inuyasha met his gaze and peered back wonderingly as he finally reached the cargo hold and deposited his load. He wasn't overly surprised when he felt the man's hand drop onto his shoulder.

"You," the pilot said, peering at him curiously, "are from Korata, Vaokea?"

Inuyasha nodded slightly. "Yeah, I was. So?"

"Inuyasha?"

The hanyou shifted away and nodded again. "That's me. Whaddya want?"

"Please," the pilot inclined his head to the sliding door to their left, "come with me. I have been searching for you."

Inuyasha glanced back once before deciding to follow after the pilot. He was led through a few hallways before they finally entered an empty study. "What's this all about?"

The pilot didn't speak again until the doors slid shut. "Prince Inuyasha," he dropped to one knee, "I am Gregorian Metathyc. I am one of the rebels who is still loyal to the true royal family. Excuse me coming here as a supporter of slave-mined Zier crystals, but it was the only way I could get here without suspicion."

Inuyasha looked to Gregorian. His head swam. It had now been years since anyone had ever addressed him by that title, and it suddenly became very apparent to him that his manners had faded quite a bit since his sentencing to Drathna 4. He licked his lips. "R-rise, Gregorian..." The words felt like chalky dust stuck to the back of his parched throat.

Gregorian did as told. "I have come to tell you that the false king of Vaokea has been searching for the Miotas-las' famed stone, the Shikon no Tama. It can bring terrible power and destruction in the wrong hands, My Prince, as, it has been said, that if one were to obtain even a single _sliver_, his natural power would increase a hundredfold."

_The Teirlon treasure..._ Narrowing his eyes, Inuyasha muttered, "How long has Naraku been looking for this?"

"Since your imprisonment, My Lord, which he has lied to the public about, saying you were killed during the Fate Day Raid. And I am sad to inform you that, while it is not in Naraku's possession, he performed a genocide...and the Shikon no Tama has seemingly vanished. Dark Sky has an idea where it might be now."

Inuyasha ground his teeth slightly before abruptly looking away. "And what do you want me to do about it? I'm a slave, in case you haven't noticed."

Gregorian sighed slightly at Inuyasha's snappish tone, but then smiled. "This I know, Prince Inuyasha, but I have a plan." His grin widened as Inuyasha trained his ears on him, eyes sliding over to give an askance look as well. "We need to get you out of here if we ever want to restore some balance to our world. This ship will not leave until it is nightfall, because that is the easiest time to see when leaving desert areas like this. You will sneak into the cargo hold – I will leave the hatch unlocked, so you must lock it after yourself – and then you may enter the rest of the ship. The entire crew is members of the rebel group Dark Sky. Does this suit you?"

Inuyasha immediately responded. "Believe me, I want out of here, Gregorian, but I can only leave on one condition."

"What's that, My Prince?"

"Two of the other slaves, Miroku and Sango, have to come with me. After all the time I've spent here," he bowed his head, golden eyes peering elsewhere, "I can't just abandon them."

Gregorian smiled. "You have the same kind heart as your father, Prince. It is agreed then. Your human friends are to come with you. You needn't worry about their treatment – Dark Sky supported not only your father but your mother as well."

Inuyasha nodded. "All right. Then what?"

"The only thing you have to worry about is getting on this transport." He dropped his right fist onto chest, giving a confident smirk. "Leave the rest up to Dark Sky."

* * *

Night had unfurled itself over Drathna 4 like a heavy bolt of cloth, but thankfully still rather cool. The slaves had just been fed and watered, and were currently waiting in their cells for the jade-colored barriers to be activated by an overseer. 

No one had ever tried to run before. The known consequences were horrific, and that was putting it mildly.

The slave compound was far from quiet with the murmurings of the residents there; Kisu didn't really care if they talked or not, so the overseers never bothered them about it. Among the mumbles, were the quick-paced whispers of Inuyasha, Sango, and Miroku.

The young hanyou had explained in as few words as possible, and the lowest tone as possible, what was going on after his meeting with Gregorian. Both Sango and Miroku looked disheartened up until the point that Inuyasha said they'd be going with him; it was then that the three had begun to formulate their plan.

Now they were covering the last minute details. The very sparse personal effects they had were stuffed into their clothing – a pretty rock, a few Zier crystals, a homemade rope, just to name a few.

The three of them were understandably anxious – finally, freedom – but they did their best to try and hide their restlessness, lest the overseers figure out that something was going on.

As they heard the overseer draw nearer, they grew quieter, spare the sound of Miroku playing with the cloth covering his cursed hand – a nervous habit he'd picked up over the years.

Finally, the overseer, looking rather bored, stopped by their cell. He was mumbling something about craving some fruit when Inuyasha leapt up and punched him square in the face. The overseer flew backwards into a wall, and, thankfully for Inuyasha, was knocked out cold.

"Let's go!" he hissed as Miroku and Sango darted around him. Inuyasha took one last backwards glance at the cell that had served as his prison for so many long years. His eyes found the crude-cut window he had longingly gazed out of every night, and felt a slight pang of hesitation. Finally, he spat at the ground and dashed after his friends.

He caught up to them easily, and the threesome jogged out of the slave compound. The endless ebony sky stretched above them, and in its massiveness, poured onto the desert sand. Only the pinpoint lights of the stars braved their chancy path. Even so, the trio could make out the rough silhouettes of each other, and the starship not so far ahead.

Inuyasha's breathing was labored, but it was not from the run. It was the idea that they could get caught at any moment; the thrilling notion that, once he stepped onto that starship, he would be free again. That freedom was just at the end of this run...

A flash of light exploded sharply in Inuyasha's peripheral vision, accompanied by the high pitched sound of a laser pistol missing its mark and meeting the sand. Soon, a whole barrage rained onto the sandy ground around he and his companions.

The overseers had found out.

"They've seen us!" cried Sango, gritting her teeth as she and Miroku ran faster. "But don't give up – we're almost to the ship!"

"Stop, slaves!" various voices shouted after them as the strident fires of the laser pistols rang around them. Whips cracked and struck around them, but the threesome managed to keep out of range.

They finally reached the cargo hatch and Inuyasha began fumbling to get it open. "Sango! I can't find the switch!"

Sango hastened to him and fretfully patted around the hatch; Inuyasha could hear her heart pounding in his ears as loud as his was. The shouts and the attacks from the overseers behind them continued.

Miroku had dropped behind his friends and glanced from the ship to the angry mob after them. "I think the open button is on the _right_, guys!" His looked back to the mob and swallowed. _They're almost upon us... I have to do something..._ Thinking quickly, Miroku made a desperate move. "Sango, Inuyasha – stay behind me!"

"Miroku...?" Sango asked softly before he sudden wrenched the cloth off his cursed hand and shouted, "_Kazaana!"_

"Got it..." Inuyasha hit the hatch button and the double doors began to slide horizontally apart. The wind picked up from somewhere behind him, and Inuyasha glanced back at Miroku to see his friend literally _draw_ the overseers in a flurry of wind and sand into the void in his hand; some tried to retreat, screaming, but Miroku did not let up until every overseer that had been chasing them was no longer there. Many of the youkai that had tortured them for years were now gone...

Miroku quickly resealed his hand and darted inside the cargo hold; Sango and Inuyasha followed soon after, and the hanyou locked the cargo hold doors as they slid shut.

"That was amazing, Miroku..." whispered Sango. "It didn't hurt you, did it?"

He shook his head. "No, Sango. I have noticed the winds getting stronger as the hole widens with each year...so I was conducting an...experiment. But, thank you all the same."

Inuyasha gazed from his friends to the door he had entered with Gregorian earlier that day and made his way towards it. Instead of following the whole route to the bridge, Inuyasha stopped at one of the rounded rectangular windows and peered outwards.

Gradually, as the ship began to gently take off, the sandy desert gradually began to grow more and more distant. For a few seconds, Inuyasha could make out the entire slave compound of Drathna 4, along with the desert path he had walked through to get there. But as the camp grew further from sight, he could still feel it, letting it roll around his mind in a ball of bitterness, and almost disbelief that he had even left that place – the place where he was continually humiliated and beaten, the place where he was tossed after his life had been torn away from him, the place _he _had banished him to...

_Naraku..._ Inuyasha leaned forward, claws gripping tightly into the metal framing around the window. The ship lurched slightly as they reached the heavens before leaving the planet's gravitational pull , with streaks of black trailing after them as they jumped into warp speed. _...I will make you pay for what you did to me...to my family... _

Inuyasha closed his eyes as he heard Miroku and Sango enter the hall. "So ends one life...and now begins another..."

_I will stop you, Naraku... _He dropped his head lightly against the window. ..._no matter what it takes... _

**

* * *

**

**A/N: **Yes, well, life has been catching up to me. While I started writing this a while ago, I've had many things that have slowed me from writing pretty much anything. Yes, I know "warp speed" is a _Star Trek_ term, but what can I say? It works. I will hopefully get a chance to write another chapter soon, and yes, this will be the end of the prologue; we will now get into the actual storyline, and we will all get to see Kagome next chapter. I promise.

At the pleading of my editor, Notoes, she has asked me include a sort of _Out of This World _translation and glossary guide at the end each chapter where a new OoTW phrase is used, as theses _are not_ Japanese phrased used, but...well, I'll let you all guess at what language I'm using. Some words are of my own device (example: Drathna, Zier, etc.). Please note my translations will be rough, and the definitions will not be exact but...

**Translations:**

**  
****_Draíocht Coir Teicníocht – _**Magic Offensive Technique  
**_Miotas-las – _**Myth-light

**Glossary:**

**Drathna 4 –** The desert slave camp Inuyasha was imprisoned at; Miroku and Sango were there as well. There are two suns' and the day is longer than the night.

**Vaokea – **The Youkai 'home world.'

**Korata – **_(this was in the previous chapter as well)_ The capital city of Vaokea, capital of the youkai world.

**Teirlon – **The place where the Shikon no Tama originated from and the place where the _Miotas-las _lived.

Moonlight Shadow


	3. Wishing on a Shooting Star

**A/N: **About the costumes and other things... I said that the costumes _looked like_ the Jedi outfits. This is _not _a rewrite of _Star Wars_by any means. Heck, this isn't even based off it, actually. The only references that you might see is the general sci-fi stuff that _Star Wars_ (and _Star Trek_) have taken credit for. (Thank you, George Lucas and Gene Roddenberry). I was simply saying that Inuyasha's clothing at the beginning looked like that. (I'm not overly _Star Wars_ savvy, either. I leave that to the pros).

As for Inuyasha's age when he got on the ship, he was about 14, Sango was 13, and Miroku was 16.

Please read these Author's Notes carefully. I usually have some kind of tidbit in here that is (supposed to be) helpful. Again, working has taken up my time, I have been exhausted, and my eyes hurt right now. I have next week off, so hopefully this chapter will be posted by that time... I hope...

**Dedication: **On June 17th, 2005, Kristine Batey, owner of Hero 21, A.K.A. Bachan, passed away. She was a tremendous inspiration and she looked after me as I started out in the _Inuyasha _fandom. While there might be other dedications throughout this story, overall, I'd like to dedicate this to her memory. Rest in peace, Bachan.

_Note:_ I use the manga's coloring for Kagome's eyes (which is blue-grey) as well as the Japanese spellings ('Kouga' as opposed to 'Koga,' for example).

All questions that you ask that are going to be mentioned in the story, I won't bother saying a thing about in the Author's Note. Otherwise, they'll be answered here.

* * *

**Chapter One **

**_Wishing on a Shooting Star_**

* * *

****

The sky was a solemn grey stretching endlessly above the city of Tokyo. Waterlogged clouds hung heavily, threatening rain. As a result, most people were indoors, not wishing to be caught in a could-be downpour. But it didn't bother Higurashi Kagome; a little rain never hurt anyone.

Kagome carried her black school case in one hand as she stared rather ponderously at the bleak heavens. While she mused vaguely about the lesson her math teacher had given the class, as it was Saturday, a half-day, her mind turned to crazy daydreams.

Ever since Kagome was small, she had always enjoyed creating her own personal fairy tales. They almost always seemed to involve some sort of amazing feat – dastardly deeds and vicious villains; beautiful maidens and courageous heroes – but, they were always imaginative, taking places in worlds Kagome could only dream up. But most of all, she enjoyed sharing her stories with her family – especially her younger brother Souta.

At the moment, Kagome was walking the two blocks from her middle school to Souta's elementary school to meet up with him so they could walk home together; however, when she reached their meeting spot on the school's steps, Kagome was surprised to see Souta wasn't there.

Kagome sighed slightly. "Now, where could he have gotten off to...?" She gazed around the courtyard she'd just passed through, and, seeing nothing, decided to check around back where the playground equipment was. When she reached the edge of the playground and still didn't see any signs of her brother, Kagome began to grow worried.

"Souta," she called, pacing along the sidewalk that ringed around the playground. "Souta, where are you? If this is one of your stupid pranks, I'm going to be really mad when I find out..." Kagome's steps slowed when she heard the sound of a child's voice, taunting.

Her body tensed up and suddenly Kagome felt very frightened. _Souta..._ Eyes widening, Kagome ran towards the source of the child's voice. She ended up going around to the other side of the building and then around the back where the dumpsters were.

Huddled against the tall chain link fence with a dumpster on each either side of the alley along with some garbage bags littering the concrete ground was Souta, brown eyes large and face decidedly afraid. Another boy, larger than Souta and most probably a grade or two ahead of him, was standing before of him – effectively keeping him from running away.

As Kagome got closer, she could now make out what the other boy was saying to taunt her brother with. "What – are you gonna cry now? Are you gonna run home and have your daddy come and beat me up – oh, wait, that's right. You don't got a dad, do you, Souta?"

Souta ground his teeth. "Sh-shut up...!"

"Ooo..." the other boy jeered. "Whatcha gonna do, huh? You think you're better than me 'cuz your family lives in a shrine or something?" He pushed Souta up against the fence, making the links jangle. "Sissy boy."

"Hey!" Kagome shouted, now only a yard or so away from bigger kid. "Let go of my brother!"

"Sis..." was all Souta said.

The larger boy released Souta's shoulders to reach over and shove Kagome, saying, "Get the heck out of here."

Kagome lost her balance and landed on her rump beside a garbage bag. Her school case had flown from her hand, the wind had been knocked out of her, and she was feeling just a bit dazed. She looked up at the frantic cries of her brother as the other boy raised a fist to his face. Kagome felt heat flare through her nerves as the fist started to descend toward Souta's nose, and her gaze focused intently on it...

The boy blinked his beady black eyes in surprise when his fist suddenly stopped moving towards Souta's face. "Huh? What gives?" He stared at his hand a moment more before a garbage bag dropped straight down onto his head, as if it had come out of nowhere. It broke open and spoiled food rolled down his clothes. "Gr-_gross!_" he stuttered before running out of the alleyway, a trail of rotten school lunches sloshing onto the ground in his wake.

Kagome got up and crouched down to pick up her school case as Souta bounded up to her. "Thanks, Sis! That was so cool how you took care of that bully!"

"It wasn't really all that cool, Souta," she replied, dusting off the back of her green skirt. "I dropped a trash bag on a guy's head. Anybody could have done that – "

"But you did it with _your mind_," Souta interrupted, gushing.

She shook her head. "It's called _telekinesis_, Souta, and it's really not that great. If anything," she mumbled incoherently to herself, "I'm kinda weird because of it." She looked to her brother. "Are you hurt anywhere?"

Souta shook his head. "No, I'm fine, Sis."

"Good." She smiled, relieved. "Then let's go home."

* * *

When the Higurashi siblings reached home, Souta babbled on to their mother about how Kagome had taken care of the bully. Needless to say, Mama reacted like any good mother would – concerned about her son being bullied at school, but Souta had just smiled and insisted he was fine. Mama had reluctantly let it slide, but made Souta promise that if it happened again that he'd tell her; she also wasn't at all angry with Kagome for using her powers – she never was because she trusted her daughter to be careful.

After that, Kagome had trotted up to her bedroom and got to her homework. She was done by the time dinner was ready, and she enjoyed the company of her family, which consisted of Souta, Mama, and Gramps – well, and the family's obese feline, Buyo, who was begging for food from underneath the kitchen table. After some normal dinner conversation – Gramps explaining the legend of the fish they were eating, and Souta rambling on about extraterrestrials – Kagome had gone upstairs to her room to relax, feeling a little lethargic, but glad to be at home with her family.

She was still a bit uncomfortable about using telekinesis in front of someone else unintentionally, so it had been kind of nerve-wracking to use it – even to such a small extent – in front of a stranger. It was a little comforting that the kid probably had no idea that psychic powers were being used around him. (And for picking on her brother, he had that garbage bag coming).

While her family knew of her strange powers, no one else was to know about it. One never knew how someone might deal with learning Kagome had powers – people weren't always the most accepting or kind to things they didn't understand; and they would be far worse than the boy who bullied Souta.

Every so often Kagome would slip up, though – her pencil would fly off her desk when she was annoyed, for example – but it was never enough to make any of her friends suspicious.

Still, no matter how normal she acted, Kagome knew she was undeniably different. Besides having these powers, her family was the keeper of an old Shinto shrine, the Sunset Shrine, and subsequently they lived in a modest home situated on the shrine grounds. Then there was another curious thing – the color of her eyes.

Unlike a normal Japanese person, Kagome's eyes were a stunning sapphire. As far as she knew, she was a hundred percent Japanese. But, she did know where she had inherited the color from – her father; his had been the same shade. She resembled him a lot.

It was times like these that Kagome missed her father the most. He had always been a kind man. Whenever she was upset, her father usually took her aside and would tell her a story or two to make her forget her worries – or at least make her feel a bit better.

And he had never thought her powers or weird. If anything, he seemed proud of her for it, though, like now, she didn't know why...

But that was years ago. He had died in a plane crash when she was nine-years-old. She was fifteen now. All she had left of him, besides his likeness and imagination, was the necklace he'd given her on the day of her birth – a small, round, pinkish gem that she wore everyday. Whenever she really started to think about her father, Kagome would hold the jewel in her palm and this sense of absolute calm would wash over her.

Kagome sighed inaudibly; lying on her bed now and watching the sun fade into night through her window. It didn't take long, yet Kagome still stared out at the night sky. She loved the depth of it, and wondered where it went.

People always said space was endless, but she secretly wanted to see as much of it as she could – to see if maybe there was an end to it. She didn't know how she'd do it, but Kagome was determined to be amongst the stars.

While she was gazing, Kagome noticed a shining spot in the sky, like the twinkling of a really bright star. "What is that?" she wondered aloud, sitting up on her knees and about pressing her nose to the window glass.

It was a deep ocher, and very noticeable against the otherwise starless Tokyo sky. The spot gleamed brighter and suddenly it zipped across the inky heavens, leaving a streak of scarlet in its wake.

"Oh wow... It must be a shooting star! I should make a wish." Kagome closed her eyes, and thought hard. What did she want more than anything else...?

_I wish..._ Kagome cradled the rosy jewel in her palm, soothing her. _I wish to find where I belong..._

Kagome gave the gem a squeeze, as if to confirm her wish, before opening her eyes and watching the shooting star disappear through the left corner of her window. Giving a yawn, the girl mumbled to herself as she laid back down, "I'm pooped... I think it's time for a good night's sleep..."

As she nodded off, Kagome didn't notice the slight glowing of the gem on her necklace.

* * *

"Miroku – how are the shields?"

"They're at ninety-three percent and holding."

"All right. Sango – keep the ship _steady _as we descend."

"I _am_, Inuyasha. Keep quiet unless you want to pilot it through the atmosphere!"

Inuyasha ground his teeth tightly; probably more than Sango's and he could hear the slow grind as she fought with the controls, even over the din of their ship's shuttering descent through the exosphere. He sat back in the captain's chair, letting Miroku and Sango deal with the logistics of maintaining the ship's safe landing; he just kept their objective in mind, praying that what Dark Sky had said was correct.

That on this planet the Teirlon Treasure would be here...

The Shikon no Tama.

A reddish glowing expanse shuddered across the holographic screen; the image was that of their ship breaching the planet's atmosphere, plunging through one layer after another. Finally, a field of grey filtered onto the holo-screen, and Inuyasha knew they were drifting above the planet's clouds. Also judging from the darkened state of the stratosphere, the single sun of this planet was illuminating the opposite side.

It was probably for the best, Inuyasha decided. The people of this planet were still scratching the surface on space travel and exploration. With the sky shadow-cast like this, it would be much easier for their ship to be furtive as it dropped into the troposphere and took cover within the low-hanging clouds.

"Inuyasha," called Sango from her place at the flight controls, "it's getting harder to control the ship here. I think there's a storm going on..."

"Dammit," he swore, turning to the console on the right arm of his chair and hitting one of the buttons. Another screen appeared a few feet in front of him, displaying the geography of the area they were over. He tapped a spot on the map, scrutinizing it speedily before shouting back to Sango, "Pilot to these coordinates. We're going to want to drop altitude quickly if we want to land in one shot."

Sango glimpsed to her left and saw the new coordinates flashing at her on one of the smaller screens, then turned her eyes back to the screen directly in front of her. Gnashing her teeth more tightly than before, and much more audibly now that they were no longer in the planet's outer atmospheric stratum, she held tightly onto the Y-shaped joystick with both hands. Jerking it backwards and then turning it a sharp right, Sango made the ship do half a loop before rotating and heading towards the intended coordinates – an empty field before the base of a mountain.

The ship descended smoothly through the night sky and finally touched down on the soft grass of the meadow.

Miroku scanned the planet's air content as well as the status of their ship. A few moments passed while Sango sat catching her breath and Inuyasha impatiently drummed his fingers, anxious to continue with their mission.

With a short nod of his head, Miroku announced, "The ship seems to be in perfect working condition, thanks to our lovely pilot." He winked at Sango who merely gave him a halfhearted attempt at a glare even though her cheeks burned pink. "It's perfectly safe for us to go outside and look."

"So what're we waiting for?" Inuyasha asked, already exiting the bridge and heading down the hall. Miroku and Sango quickly flanked him and all three wound their way around to the cargo hold where the hanyou had pressed the button to begin opening the dual doors.

As the doors parted horizontally, light glittered inward, bathing the trio in wonder, until they realized that they were looking at the unnatural lights of a large city. They stepped out when the lower door dropped onto the ground, creating a ramp.

Soft grass was pressed down by the weight of their footfalls and they stood atop the crest, looking down the darkened hillside to see the city to which the lights belonged. It was massive, even in their eyes, but quite different in look to what the three had seen.

A thick, black band secured a square box to Inuyasha's wrist. The face of the box was smooth metal with a small divide down the center. On the top and bottom of it, there were two small knobs. Inuyasha pressed them and the box face flipped outward; a green-tinged holo-screen sprang out of the opening, detailing information quickly in white print.

Inuyasha's amber eyes simply scanned over the words – it wasn't anything he didn't know before. "This...country speaks a language called Japanese here." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a white ball that was no bigger than his pinky nail. Tilting his arm, he placed the ball up against the side of the box on his wrist where a tiny beam of light shot out of an unseen hole and scanned over it. Pulling the ball away, Inuyasha held it up to his temple, saying, "I guess I better learn it."

As soon as the ball made contact with his skin, thousands of words poured into his mind, and in mere seconds, he had learned the language in its entirety. Inuyasha smirked slightly; he probably spoke it better than most of the natives did.

Something that would take people years to learn – entire lifetimes, even! – took him mere seconds with the aid of advanced technology. To these people, it would seem quite wondrous. But to Inuyasha, it was simply habit.

Tucking the ball back into his pocket, he looked at the other two. "Miroku, do you remember what Gregorian said about the Shikon no Tama's energy signal?"

Miroku nodded. "Yes. Since it should be in the hands of the last full-powered Miotas-las, the Shikon no Tama's energy should be quite pure. That is, if the new guardian is as pure-hearted as the last." He watched Inuyasha tapped another button on the side of gadget on his wrist, frowning thoughtfully. "...Are you going alone, Inuyasha?"

Grunting, the hanyou replied, "Of course I am. I don't want to put you two in danger. Besides, who else is going to watch the ship, eh?"

"Your concern is so touching," responded Miroku in a rather dry voice, but knowing that his friend had Sango and his best interests in mind. "I just want you to remember that this new guardian may not know who she really is for whatever reason."

Inuyasha snorted. "I know, I know. I'm not stupid you know."

"Sometimes, actions speak louder than words."

Balking slightly, Inuyasha raised a fist with the obvious intent of striking Miroku; he muttered a few choice curse words beneath his breath before lowering his fist again. "Never mind – we don't have time for this. I got to get the girl and the jewel now."

"We don't know if time's on our side or not," Sango said, gaze panning over the horizon. She turned to the boys. "But I'm sure once we have the guardian and the Shikon no Tama, we'll have more of it."

"Agreed," chorused Miroku.

"Let's hope she's as powerful as Dark Sky said she's supposed to be..." Inuyasha mumbled, tapping one of the knobs on his wrist-gadget. "You two stay here. I'm going to teleport over there..."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" asked Sango as she stretched and popped the joints in her hands.

"It's the quickest way. If all goes well, I should land pretty close to where she is without being on top of her or something." Inuyasha stared intently as the machine went about its work – searching out the energies. There had been a sharp spike in the Shikon no Tama's energy only a few hours ago. That was good – it made it all the more easier for Inuyasha as he locked in on the coordinates. All he had to do was confirm his action with another button click.

Sango turned to Inuyasha. "You sure you want to do this alone?"

A finger was poised atop the knob as he thought over her words. "Yeah. Just trust me, all right?"

She nodded. "All right. We'll be here..."

Inuyasha took a deep breath and then slowly pressed the button...

* * *

Kagome stretched. She was a light sleeper, and she was only able to sleep in short bouts of four hours, unless she was really tired and then she could sleep the whole day away. Today was one of her four hour spurts.

Sitting up slowly, she felt the slight soreness in her muscles from sleeping on her stomach with Buyo on her back – said lazy feline had just rolled off the side of the bed when she moved, but that wasn't too uncommon. She winced lightly when a particularly nasty twinge went up her spine. "Ugh...I think I could use a hot shower," she mumbled to herself, swinging herself rather ungracefully from her bed. She sauntered to the hallway and made it to the bathroom.

Kagome ran a hand through her hair as she plugged the tub and turned the hot water on, prepared to take a nice, steamy soak. She idly watched the vapor rise before turning off the hot water and started to feather in some cold. Looking down at her clothes, Kagome realized she was still in her school uniform.

"I better go get my pajamas now..." Shutting off the water, Kagome toddled into her bedroom and found a pair of blue-and-white star-and-moon pajamas in the top drawer of her dresser. As she shut the drawer, she heard a loud 'crash!' from the bathroom, like something falling into water. She paused for a moment before rolling her eyes.

"Probably Buyo," she muttered, sliding on her house slippers. "Kami knows that cat is as graceful as a concrete walrus..." With a shake of her head and pajamas in hand, Kagome made her way back to the bathroom. As she approached the door, she heard some spluttered words.

Pushing open the door, Kagome spotted a wet figure clambering out of her tub. A figure with silvery-white hair, dog ears, gold eyes, curious clothing, and a pissed off look on his face...

He glared at her, shaking the water from his clothes in a fruitless attempt to dry them as he slipped over the edge of the tub. His gold eyes locked onto hers intently, and Kagome gulped, backing up slightly. "Wh-what--?" she croaked before he took a step towards her and, with inhuman speed, moved to tower before her.

The strange boy continued to scrutinize her as his calloused hand roughly cupped her chin. "So..." he said slowly, voice low and gruff, "you're the one then."

* * *

**A/N:** First chapter out. Sorry for the delay – for the past year and a half, I have been dealing with a lot of family drama, as well as some friend drama. Right now, it's primarily family drama. You're all going to have to bear with me – I will try and update when I can, but this is my final year of high school, so, because of classes starting tomorrow, I need to keep on top of things. Thank you all for understanding. This disclaimer goes out for _On a Leash_ as well, which I will write for next. I'm trying my best folks, and your reviews are very encouraging.

I can't think of anything for either the Glossary or the Translations, but let me know.

Moonlight Shadow


	4. The One

**A/N: **Ok, so maybe I lied. I felt like working on this one right now, but I have part of _On a Leash_ worked on right now, but we'll see. I have a Creative Writing class this semester, so maybe I'll spend more time on the computer actually writing again (I hope, I hope).

Great questions this time around and actually a few are going to be answered this chapter. So, enjoy.

While I was writing the Prologue (both parts) I always heard the song "The Unforgiven" by Metallica in my head.

**Dedication: **To my niece, Kirsten. You seem to really like this story, so, this chapter is for you, another lost and confused girl.

* * *

**Chapter Two**

**_The One_**

**_

* * *

_**

Inuyasha gave a mental nod. _This is the girl, no mistake._

She stared owlishly at him with brilliant sapphire eyes, irises sparking with silver as she grew more uncomfortable. She finally seemed to regain her wits when she wrenched her chin out of his wet hand and shouted, "Get away from me, you weirdo!"

"What? No wait!" He made to go after her, but she rounded on him at the door, eyes flashing, and he was thrown against the wall by an unseen force. Vision spinning, Inuyasha slid down to the floor and sat dazed for a moment while the girl made her hasty exit from the bathroom, screaming, "KYAAAAA!"

Inuyasha sat forward, holding a hand up to his throbbing head before realizing that the girl was still running away from him (and making quite a scene). "_Fuck_...!" Swaggeringly getting to his feet, and after slipping on the excess water on the bathroom floor, the hanyou stumbled after her. He passed by a woman and a little boy as they emerged from their respective rooms, looking wide-eyed at him as he tramped after the girl. "Look, I'm not a bad guy!"

"Oh yeah, like I'm supposed to believe it's _totally_ normal for guys to fall into my bathwater!" she shot back.

"Hey, that was an accident!" he snapped, finally overtaking her and stepping right into her path; subsequently, she slammed right into his chest.

"Ow..." The girl rubbed at her nose.

Inuyasha grabbed her upper arms, not harshly, and intoned, "I'm not going to hurt you, all right? So quit freaking out."

Kagome began to pull away, already opening her mouth to respond before Mama's voice cut in, saying, "It's about the Shikon no Tama, isn't it?" She looked to her mother in confusion. _Mama..?_

Inuyasha looked to Mama and nodded, releasing Kagome's arms. "Yeah..."

Mama bowed her head slightly, hand touching her chest. "Oh dear...I knew this was bound to happen sooner or later. Let's take this downstairs in the kitchen."

"Fine with me."

Kagome simply watched, dumbfounded, as her mother and the strange boy walked straight passed her and proceeded down the staircase. She rubbed her arm subconsciously. Something about this was just weird, and Kagome had bad feeling, a really bad feeling.

"Whoa! Did you see his ears, Sis?" bubbled Souta.

Kagome glanced dubiously at her brother. "How could I not?"

"Maybe he's an..." Souta glimpsed surreptitiously from side to side before whispering, "_alien..._"

"Souta..." she groaned. Only her brother would think of stuff like aliens when some strange guy appeared, and _not_ be at all concerned about _why_ the guy was there in the first place. "Not another theory..."

"But, extraterrestrials have been making contact, and I'll bet that shooting star was really one of _their_ craft." Souta's entire body shook giddily.

Kagome sighed. "You've been talking to that homeless man by the subway again, haven't you?"

"So...? Jay's right!"

Spreading her fingers to place her forefinger and thumb on her temples, she simply sighed again and made her way downstairs and towards the soft light pouring from the kitchen. Kagome entered and simply stared at the strange boy again, though much more calmly than before. His vermillion jacket hit the middle of his back and a white shirt was tucked into his black pants. He wore heavy-looking black boots on his feet and some strange pouches and pockets were strapped onto his legs.

Now that Kagome looked at him again, he didn't look as terrifying as she'd previously thought. If anything, he just looked wet, a tad sore, and rather peeved.

And that sense of foreboding still refused to leave her.

"Kagome," said Mama, grimacing as she pulled one of the dining chairs towards her, "please, sit down."

Allowing her gaze to flicker from the boy to her mother, Kagome scooted the chair out and sat beside her mother.

Souta scrambled into view, depositing himself into one of the chairs across from his mother and sister – Buyo the cat clutched to his chest.

"Well then," Mama looked at the boy, "would you care to sit down?"

He shook his head. "No, thanks." He crossed his arms over his chest, peering at Kagome.

Kagome wondered how her mother could be so level-headed about this as she met his gaze. Sure, weird stuff seemed to abound at their house but this guy had just suddenly appeared out of nowhere – and into her bathwater no less!

_Mama acts as if...she's expected this..._ Kagome thought and a sick sort of 'eureka!' passed through her. _Did Mama expect this...? Why would she expect this boy to visit us...? _She shook her head. _The more I think about it, the more confused I get... Maybe I should just listen and find out and mull over it later..._

Deciding on that notion, Kagome waited for the strange boy to say something.

Inuyasha let his gaze pass over the family and gave a soft sigh – part of him really hated himself for having to disrupt this girl's life here by telling her who she was, _what _she was, but the greater part of him knew it had to be done and it was that gut-feeling that he was going to follow.

He knew he was going to have to talk soon before the silence got too awkward, and he suddenly wished he'd brought Miroku along – he was a much better orator. "It's about Aetori."

"Aetori?" echoed Kagome. "What's Aetori?"

"Don't you even know your own father's name?" shot Inuyasha.

"What are you talking about?"

Sensing her daughter was getting upset, Mama laid a hand on Kagome's shoulder. "Your father Tori's real name was Aetori."

"Mama...?"

Dropping her hand back onto her lap, she continued. "But once he came here, he adopted a more Japanese-sounding name and so he shortened it to simply 'Tori.' He didn't want to be recognized – he only wanted to have a life here with me."

"Dad was a foreigner?" asked Kagome, somehow knowing that was putting it mildly.

"Your father was the prince of the Miotas-las," Mama intoned softly, looking at the white of the tabletop for a moment. She brought her eyes up, looking to Inuyasha. "It's about Kagome and the jewel isn't it?"

_The jewel...?_ Kagome touched her necklace, too stunned to utter a word.

Inuyasha nodded. "It's for the best if I get her to my ship and get her off this planet. We were hoping not to have to do it so soon but we gotta do it now."

"Yes, I understand. He's after it, isn't he?"

"Yeah."

Mama shook her head. "This isn't at all what Tori had in mind... Kagome," she turned to her daughter, "you have to go with him and get out of here. It isn't safe here for you."

"Wh-what do you mean--?"

"Just listen! You need to listen to everything this man tells you – "

"Man?" interjected Kagome. "Mom, he's not even human!"

Clamping her hands onto Kagome's shoulders, Mama cried, "Neither are you or Souta!"

Azure eyes widening, the girl looked to her brother, who looked just as genuinely surprised and perplexed.

"I was right..." mumbled Souta as he looked to Buyo, who mewed largely up at him.

"Mama..." she murmured, "I don't know what's going on, but if I'm in some form of trouble, can't I just be put in Witness Protection or something?"

Mama squeezed tighter, hurting Kagome's shoulders a bit. "No, Kagome, you can't. This is something from your father's home, this is your duty – this is your _destiny, _Kagome."

"What? Destiny?" she squeaked. "What destiny?" She looked frantically around the room before spotting her grandfather making his way into the room. "Grampa!"

"Hm?" He raised a white eyebrow. "What's going on here?"

"I...I-I don't know..."

Mama refused to yield her grip on her daughter's shoulders, even as she spoke. "Father, this young man came to take Kagome from here and protect her from the same thing that killed Tori."

"What?" Kagome whipped her head toward her mother. "Something _killed_ Dad...? But, Mama, you said he died in a plane crash..." She managed to break free of her mother's grasp, ignoring her pleading call of, "Kagome!"

The girl sprang from her chair so quickly it skid backwards before she backed herself into the counter, palms pressed against it. _All this time...has it been a lie what happened to Dad...?_ She took a deep breath, and then spoke. "Tell me the truth, Mama. What really happened to Dad?"

Mama bowed her head.

Softly, Souta broke the quiet, saying, "Dad...he didn't die in a plane crash, did he...?"

The fixture situated above the table seemed to drip a sallow light, casting not-quite-black shadows on the features of everyone in the room. It seemed as if everyone and no one were talking all at once, and it swarmed Kagome's mind, making her eyes water from the pain.

She slammed her eyes shut just as Mama finally spat out, "No, your father was savagely killed in battle by a...man...named Naraku."

Kagome's hand curled around the edge of the ceramic counter, the cool metal of the sink pressing against the heel. "But...why?" she whispered.

"Because of that jewel you're wearing around your neck," the strange boy said, voice low and gruff, but not without sympathy. "That is the Teirlon Treasure – the Shikon no Tama." He waited and when Kagome remained silent, he went on. "Teirlon is where the Miotas-las lived, where your old man was from. You have to protect this jewel, girl, because I'm pretty sure your dad didn't die in vain."

"Why? It's just a stupid jewel..." Kagome chewed on her bottom lip. _But Dad gave it to me...I wouldn't be able to just give it up if I wanted to._

"It's not a just a stupid jewel, stupid! That thing has unbelievable powers and in the wrong hands could cause destruction, don't you understand that?" He slammed his palm on the kitchen table, moisture ringing around his hand on the tabletop; the vase in the center jittered from side-to-side. "You're the one who has to protect it – you were the next one in line."

A tear slipped down her cheek. "Next one in line for what...?"

"For guardianship. Your father was the previous guardian and since it follows from generation to generation, it fell to you. You are the current guardian, whether you like it or not."

That was it. He said it with such finality that Kagome felt herself taken aback.

Destiny? Fate? Romanticized ideas. She had been lied to, that's all she knew, and she was too upset to consider any of her daydreamer logic. For all these years, Kagome had thought her father had died in a plane crash, but instead was living something of a double life. Now she was the supposed guardian of this Shikon no Tama and expected to go off with this complete stranger to...to another world entirely! This was absurd; there was no way she was going along with this.

Before she knew it, Kagome was shouting, "No, I don't like it and you can't make me do it!" She bit her bottom lip again, more tears finding their way to her cheeks.

"Kagome, if you don't, Naraku will come here for you and the jewel! He may even _kill you!_" Mama cried.

The emotions were overcoming her, making Kagome's small frame shake. They all just swelled together into one massive, throbbing ache that placed itself right in the center of her forehead. Her fingers clenched onto the counter.

There was a loud bang and a few surprised shouts, causing Kagome to whip open her eyes. The light fixture above the kitchen had burst. She was just able to catch the remnant sparks drifting through the air along with shards of glass chiming as they shattered into even smaller fragments as they hit the table. She could only stare dumbly as the room went dark.

"I...I didn't mean to," Kagome whispered. She started to tremble harder. Slowly, the taste of fear coating the inside of her mouth, Kagome moved her hands in front of her and saw the lines from the sink and counter edges as the flesh continued to glow light bluish-white color. She brought them up to eyelevel, staring at them with some sort of nauseated horror.

"Sis..." whispered Souta.

Tears blurred Kagome's vision as her eyes focused on her brother through the gaps between her splayed fingers. In the dim natural light, she could make out Souta squeezing the cat a little tighter to his chest. Biting back a cry, she turned on her heel and fled out the kitchen, into the hall, out the shoji screen. She could hear her family calling after her, but she just kept running – the cool stone of the temple grounds brushing the soles of her feet.

"Kagome – stop!"

It was the stranger who called her and Kagome found herself glancing back at him. Her barefoot caught on the side of a stone and she held out her hands to brace for impact, now facing forward with her eyes closed.

Her knees folded beneath her yet only slightly tapped the stone hit. It took a moment for her to realize that there was a pair of large hands bracing her upper arms. She dared to open her eyes and found the unusual gold eyes of that strange boy boring into hers rather knowingly; he had dropped onto one knee so they were level. Kagome hadn't forgotten his earlier brusqueness and was surprised by this display of tenderness.

"Look, you shouldn't run from this," he said. "It's...just how things are."

She averted her gaze. "Why does it have to be...?"

"Why does it have to be? What a stupid question! You're The One; you're the guardian, Kagome. Just like your father was before you." He gave her a light squeeze and Kagome could feel the tips of long nails on her arms.

"Just...why didn't anyone tell me before? How am I in danger? How can I believe all of this?" The tears continued to trail down her cheeks, unable to meet the strange boy's gaze even though she could sense his on her. "I don't even know your name."

He was quiet for a moment before he finally said, "Inuyasha." Kagome managed to look at him again as he repeated, "My name – it's Inuyasha."

"Inuyasha..." she whispered. Another unchecked tear made its way down her face, her mind still reeling from the past few moments.

"...They know you didn't blow the light up on purpose."

"That's good..."

They sat there in silence, the sky seeming darker and more ominous than ever. The wind changed direction and picked up speed, rushing past and bursting through the god tree's leaves to the west. It was like some soothing lullaby and Kagome found herself calmed by it.

Kagome heard Inuyasha lick his lips and she glanced up at him. "You're going to have to believe me," he stated. "Naraku wants that jewel more than anything."

"What if...I just give you the jewel?"

He shook his head. "Doesn't work that way. You're the only remaining Miotas-las, Kagome. The rest of them were killed."

Her eyes grew wide and murmured, "All of them...were killed...?"

Inuyasha nodded. "Yeah. Your dad kept you hidden here, but Naraku knows where you are now, just like we do."

"Then why didn't anyone come for me before?"

"Naraku didn't know where you were before. We figured it'd be easier if you were older and able to understand this whole thing better." He paused for a moment.

"Are you sure I'm not the guardian?" she queried softly.

"You have blue eyes just like all of the other Miotas-las guardians before you," simply responded Inuyasha. "Only the guardian line seems to be able to control the Shikon no Tama's power correctly. It's where your power came from, too."

"But I don't know what's going on still. I'm confused, and I don't know if I can trust you yet. But if I stay here..." Kagome drifted off as Inuyasha's grip on her arms slackened and slid away. "My family will be in danger and so will I. I...don't really understand everything yet, but...I'm going to have to go with you."

Inuyasha kept his eyes on her. "I'm here to protect you, all right? You can trust me. But we have to get you out of here if we're going to keep anyone safe."

Kagome smiled softly, nodding once. "Then I guess I'm ready to accept my destiny."

* * *

**A/N: **Ooo...and the plot thickens! Okay, well, this chapter was shorter than most, but hey – it had to be cut there. Where will Kagome go? How will this work out? Why are there so many damn questions in this story? Hehe, whoops. My fault. 

There is some **new fan art** linked on my bio page drawn by Another Lone Ranger. He let me post it on a page of my 'webpage' on geocities so please check it out and enjoy.

Also, if any of you like Final Fantasy VIII, please check out the stuff I have written by heading my bio page. On another fun note, I have a theme writing community on livejournal called 100(underscore)chances. Check my bio for my information and a link.

**Glossary:**

**Aetori (Tori) –** Kagome and Souta's father. He was Prince of the Miotas-las before he was killed by Naraku and was the previous guardian of the Shikon no Tama.

**Teirlon Treasure – **Another name for the Shikon no Tama.

Moonlight Shadow


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